Local Baseball at Dodger Stadium

Later today at Dodger Stadium, Bishop Amat will play Palm Desert, followed by Riverside North vs. Anaheim Esperanza in the CIF championship games.

Then tomorrow at 2 p.m., it’s my alma mater, Chatsworth High, against San Fernando in the City Section championship game.

If you’re thirsting for some good local baseball, stop by and check out these games.

And while we’re on the subect of local baseball, you might not have heard yet of Cory Hahn but if you haven’t, you need to hear his story. Cory, who went to Mater Dei and was a standout there, was injured during a game this February in his freshman season at Arizona State University. He is undergoing constant treatment and physical therapy, spending several hours every day in his quest to get better. Unfortunately, that kind of treatment is very expensive and the costs are mounting.

Mater Dei High School has established a fund to accept donations to help the Hahn family with the costs of treatment. All donation amounts go to Hahn’s medical expenses. You can click this link to make a donation.

Just make sure that there is no connection between the established medical expense fund and the Dodgers. Any charity having a McCourt connection is an oxymoron unless openly called the “Frank Slush Fund”. I’m also wondering how much they’re charging for parking at the stadium for the high school games and who gets those revenues.
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If it sounds like I don’t trust Frank, you got it.

Furcal’s got to be quickly approaching the all time biggest dollars collected from the Dodgers while on DL, a la Dreifort and Schidt. If we don’t get rid of Ned, I’m seriously afraid that he’ll sign Furcal for another three years before the season is over.

You might be surprised what kind of recovery he makes on another team. I doubt he would’ve been on the DL as many times and for as long a duration(s) if he’d had gone ahead and signed back with Atlanta three years ago.

So if Ferk goes on the DL that would mean that we’ve had 18 DL entries so far this season. Seems as if the Piano Man has been tossing pianos left & right. Or Conte sucks. I hate the job this guy has done. Seems like every year we are one of the tops in the league in DL visits. I know injuries happen — broken or jammed fingers but how many pulls and strains have we had? Sheesh!!!

Of course, a lot of the DL visits are “phantom” because Ned uses it to keep worthless vets around.
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Wondering with Garland if its more to keep his innings down so his contract won’t vest for next season – there was nothing wrong with him his last start.

All baseball players get hurt way too easily nowadays. I think they have it way to easy. All the pulled hammies and minor injuries that put them on the DL. Years ago I don’t remember that happening. Hell, Koufax & Drys would throw complete games!

HK isn’t looking all that good tonight. He’s avoided giving up runs so far but has been dancing all night long.
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Funny how the Reds pitcher has like a 5+ ERA and has shut us down for 5 innings. Jimenez hadn’t won a game all year and pitches a complete game shut out.

I’m not talking about this year but I knew all those runs we did scored we was going to get shutout and last year was no fluke. Check out Jimenez record since 2008 numbers if you think Jimenez isn’t a good pitcher than you’re wrong. He’s just having an offyear and probably having mechanic problem it happen and with Dusty Baker his manager than happen.

Well, when you’ve got a lineup where over half the guys don’t belong on a major league roster, I guess that’s what you get. If it wasn’t for Ned, guys like Miles, Gibbons, Thames, Navarro, Barajas, Castro, etc…, would be unemployed… Geez!!!

Donny please put Sands in the 5th spots (and stop platooning him with Gibbons) and he’s hitting over .300+ on the road just ignore that under .200 stats against RHP. Another games that Gwynn didn’t get into. lol just what we need another person on the DL. It is time to give Hoffmann a chance.

PHOENIX (AP)—A 13-year-old Arizona boy was killed in a freak accident after a baseball hit him over the heart as he tried to bunt, officials in his Little League said Friday.

Hayden Walton went for the bunt during a game Tuesday night in the close-knit northern Arizona city of Winslow, said Jamey Jones, a Winslow Little League official.

“He took an inside pitch right in the chest,” Jones said. “After that he took two steps to first base and collapsed.”

He died the next morning at a local hospital.

The boy’s parents, who were at the game, are heartbroken, shocked and unable to speak to members of the media, league president and family spokesman Dale Thomas said.

“It’s a hard thing to handle for everyone,” Thomas said. “When you’re touched by something of this magnitude, it sends shock waves throughout the community.”

Thomas said he grew up around the boy’s family and described Hayden as “the epitome of what every little boy ought to be.” Besides participating in Little League, Hayden was a Boy Scout, loved to work on cars and helped neighborhood widows by mowing their lawns and doing odd jobs for them, Thomas said.

He said Hayden had a younger sister.

The league suspended games until Friday and has counselors available for players or parents who need them.

Stephen Keener, president and CEO of Little League Baseball and Softball, said in a statement that “the loss of a child is incomprehensible.”

“Words cannot adequately express our sorrow on the passing of Hayden,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Hayden’s family, all the players and volunteers of the Winslow Little League, his classmates, and his friends, at this difficult time.”

Moseley, Baumgartner and Jimenez all got there 1st win this season vs us. Moseley finally got his 2nd wins tonight and it took a month to get it. Since Towles had his walk-off hit on May 25 he has gone like 2/22 (while going 0/2 in tonight game and was PH by Downs) since than.

I, like many of you, was curious about how much cash was entering the pockets of the owner due to the CIF Southern Championship games being held in Dodger Stadium this weekend. So, of course, I wrote a letter. OK, an email. I certainly didn’t trust anyone connected with the Dodgers to answer it, so I went to the CIF directly:
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“To whom it may concern:
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As a taxpayer in the State of California, I would like to know how to find out what Frank McCourt and the Los Angeles Dodgers are charging for the use of their stadium.”
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To my surprise, I got an answer. The same day. Here it is:
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“My name is Rob Wigod and I am an Assistant Commissioner and the baseball administrator for the C.I.F. Southern Section. Mr. Blake from the C.I.F. State Office forwarded your email to me. Allow me the opportunity to respond to your questions.
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In my 11 years as an Assistant Commissioner for the C.I.F. Southern Section, we have held our Baseball Championships at Dodger Stadium several times. Each and every time we have done so, the financial arrangements are as follows…
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1) The Los Angeles Dodgers charge us a rental fee of $1.00 for the use of the stadium. They waive their normal rental fee of $25,000 a night for our event.
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2) The Los Angeles Dodgers waive the parking fee for our games at Dodger Stadium, which allows free parking for everyone who attends our games.
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3) We pay all of the expenses for the employees of the Los Angeles Dodgers who work our event: ushers, ticket sellers, ticket takers, security, maintenance, etc. out of the gate receipts from our event. Those are the only costs we incur. Once those expenses are paid, all of the net profits from our event are returned to our organization, not to the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is a direct benefit to the 581 member high schools in our organization.
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4) The Los Angeles Dodgers reduce their concession prices for our event, offering them at lower prices than a Los Angeles Dodgers game.
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In summary, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and their outstanding staff, are tremendous supporters of the C.I.F. Southern Section and high school athletics. Not only do they allow us to provide incredible championship experiences for our student-athletes, coaches, parents, fans and communities, they have made a significant financial commitment to make sure that we can do so.
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The support of the Los Angeles Dodgers and their sense of giving back to the community is appreciated by all of us who are involved with high school athletics. We have always had a great relationship with them and look forward to continuing that great relationship in the years ahead.
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I hope that helps clarify things for you.
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Sincerely,
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Rob Wigod
Assistant Commissioner/ Baseball Administrator
C.I.F. Southern Section”
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There you are. With all the (well-deserved) owner-bashing that I and the rest of you do, what can we make of that? Assuming it’s the truth, that is. And I have no thoughts that it isn’t. I immediately sent back a reply, thanking them for their response. I really didn’t expect one.
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Now, why would a you-know-who-hater such as myself post something that paints him in such a good light? Well, the question was out there and we all deserve an answer. I could have kept this to myself, but I love all you guys and gals and I have to look at my face in the mirror every morning. It might be ugly, but it’s an honest face. I’ve never been one to avoid the truth.
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First, I guess anyone can attend the Championship games with the knowledge that the money you spend is going to high school athletics and not helping to maintain you-know-who’s ownership of our club. As great as MLB games are, high school and college games are better. There’s just something about watching young men and women compete purely for the love of the competition that stirs the soul. I don’t for a second doubt that there are many who have the same ego problems as do many professionals, but the percentage is bound to be way lower. They’re doing it for pride. Pride in their schools and their teammates (and for themselves of course), not money. I’ll never forget the sight of that college softball player who was too injured to even walk around the bases after hitting the game-winning home run. The opposing team carried her around the bases because it was against the rules to be helped by her teammates. THAT is sportsmanship personified. I doubt that would happen in the National League.
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Second, it’s convenient (and a little fun) to mentally carry an image of that bastard as a heartless Scrooge with no one’s interests in his tiny little emaciated heart but his own. Will this change anything for me? No. For reasons of my own, I will continue to tell myself that his thinking is that he stepped into the job with the tradition in place, and he knows that he would suffer the slings and arrows of the public for ending that tradition if he were to start charging for it. That works for me.
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Gotta go. God Bless you all.
.SELL THE TEAM.

Damn, I hate it when something else occurs to me after I’ve posted.
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Another nice thing about receiving that answer: he’s still a cheapskate.
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“We pay all of the expenses for the employees of the Los Angeles Dodgers who work our event: ushers, ticket sellers, ticket takers, security, maintenance, etc. out of the gate receipts from our event.”
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He could pay the expenses himself and let the CIF pocket all of the gate receipts. Cheap bastard 🙂
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Oh, here’s the video of sportsmanship:
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